A Troubled Heart ❥ D.M.

C H A P T E R 1 6

S U M M E R//

Midsummer, Amycus and Alecto arrived at Malfoy Manor. I listened from the top of the stairs to their conversation with Lucius and Narcissa.

"We need to take her to her home in London," Alecto stated. "Now that Celia is gone, Iris must retrieve any belongings she wants to keep."

"The Ministry wants to demolish the home," Amycus continued explaining. "They do not wish to have a home of a traitor of the Dark Lord to remain."

"Celia handed the child over!" Lucius hissed.

"But she defied his prior wishes. She learned how to be a traitor from our filthy aunt and her husband," Alecto sneered. Aunt...? "Heather and Charles Éclatant were disgraces to Pureblood wizards. We expect Iris to continue to be raised correctly here. Isn't that what you wanted, Lucius? Celia died for all the wrong reasons. Iris always deserved better than what she got."

"We will need to take her before the sun sets," Amycus cleared his throat. "If you would call her down." There was a pause before Narcissa called my name. I reluctantly walked down the stairs to greet the Carrows. The siblings frowned before Alecto grabbed my arm and Apparated us out of the manor.

"You didn't even explain where we are going." I swallowed hard and held my stomach. I still had not become used to Apparition.

"I think you know quite well, you little sneak." Amycus led Alecto and I down a stone path and to a house I forgot even existed.

"The Ministry wants to tear down the home because of Celia?" I approached the door and gripped the handle.

"She and the rest of your family were a disgrace to Pureblood families and the Dark Lord. They called themselves Death Eaters, but they were nothing more than blood-traitor scum!" Amycus shoved me aside an unlocked the door to the home with Alohomora.

"You take that back!" I shouted, following him into the home.

"Do you not agree? The Dark Lord knows quite well you never wanted to be like them," Alecto continued in after us. "Is that what you always think and say? I will never be like them."

"Those are private thoughts!" I argued.

"Nothing is private once you become a Death Eater." Amycus picked up a few items from a table and stuffed them into his pocket.

"I don't understand how you can be so harsh to Celia. She was your cousin, was she not?" I gritted my teeth as I watched the siblings search the home for valuables.

"She was no family member to us once she betrayed the Dark Lord. Just like your mother." Amycus definitely was the harsher sibling. He always had something rude to say it seemed. "She acted on her own behalf rather than the Dark Lords', even when she did hand you over."

"You said... Earlier you said she was--"

"Our aunt, yes," Alecto interrupted. "Distantly. That makes you our cousin." The woman grinned as she entered another room. My life kept getting more and more complicated, and even more connected to Voldemort.

I wanted out.

I walked down a narrow hallway that led to my old room. It was how I left it all those summers ago. Books scattered on my bed and desk. On my bookshelf, pictures of Harry, Hermione and myself on our first day at Hogwarts. Cho, Luna, Marietta and me at the Quidditch Cup cheering on Ravenclaw as they played Slytherin, and little me, age five or so, at the beach with my parents. I found a suitcase in the room and used it to pack all the pictures. I came across another picture. Grand-mere stood next to me, her hand rested on my shoulder. Neither of us smiled. The woman never smiled, but I noticed something I hadn't before. Her eyes, those piercing eyes, looked so sad. Perhaps she always looked that way, and I never noticed. Or maybe it was that I never understood why she always acted so harshly. I know, now. I did not bother to grab any clothes from the closet, as I outgrew them by then. I took a few books, and bid farewell to my old room. I heard Alecto and Amycus bicker in the study, but passed them by to find Celia's room. In all the years we lived in London, I never dared enter her room without permission, which she hardly ever gave me. The black curtains forbid any sunlight to enter the small bedroom, and the single lamp that sat on her nightstand did not offer any light. I sank onto her bed, lined in silky chocolate sheets. Her books were neatly lined on her shelves, and her pictures sat in a row on her desk, which I recognized as one of grand-mére's pieces of furniture. I noticed a particular picture of her and me kicking sand at each other at the beach. My lips curved upward slightly. I enjoyed seeing us so happy, but it made me sick to think that all those years she and the rest of my family were keeping such dark secrets from me. I stood, grabbed the picture gently and placed it in the suitcase with the rest of the photographs. I noticed a lock on one of the drawers, and tilted my head slightly as the other drawers were not locked. I pulled my wand from my pocket, and whispered 'alohomora.' Nothing happened. I tucked my wand behind my ear, something Luna did often.